Rob. Thanks for all of that detail! The detail in your upgrade experience is what I, and likely many others, are looking for. When it comes to upgrading, I'm no different. It's getting a bit tiring though. After watching Indiana Jones (SD-SDV) with my kids last night only one thing stood out to bug me a little bit, the shaking of the lens during heavy bass scenes. I've never seen this on any other projector (to this extent). I'd imagine it's the same on the RS2. Also, I'm using an ND filter to tame the brightness so I'd imagine that an RS2's black level will not be a night and day difference for me. For once, though, I have no complaints about the projector's black level. Of course there's always room for improvement though. Maybe an RS3 will work on some of the features left out on the RS1/RS2. Even better, maybe we'll see the equivalent of a VW60 and VW200 lineup with a "higher end" JVC: better lens, etc.

No problem Rob, glad to offer some feedback.

I never noticed my RS1 lens shaking with deep bass and haven't yet on the RS2 as well.

I will say that the more I have been using this pj the more impressed I am and the greater the upgrade from the RS1 I think it is. The added depth, detail and richness is just fantastic.

IMO anyone who has said that this is a minor upgrade (and I hope I didn't come off like that from my initial comments) before is crazy. I can only guess they were viewing it in one of the lower gamma settings because with a 2.5 gamma the diff is quite visible.

If anyone is looking into getting an rs1 then then should pony up the extra cash and buy an RS2. It's easily worth the extra money. I watched face/off hd dvd Saturday night and (aside from the DNR fest to cause the waxy looking faces) the depth of the image was sooooo nice. Checked out a bit of Transformers HD DVD today and again, such added depth and a richness to it. I also checked out some madden 08 on the xbox360 and the difference is night and day. Again, richness and much added depth.

With regard to the colours, did you find reducing the colour control helped to tame the saturation ? I have an HD1 (RS1) and am thinking of moving to an HD100 (RS2). Thanks.

I have my colour setting at -4. I think it looks fine with maybe red at times a bit too vibrant but it's fine for me.

Rickd,

I played around with the different gammas and find the Theater settings to wash the image out a bit too much. I much prefer my 2.5 setting with tweaked out 5-15% values and also 95% increased a bit. Yes, the image is darker but it looks far richer and vibrant and I find more depth in brighter scenes with it.

Rich Harkness,

The RS2 is IMO plenty quiet and it is only 2 feet right above my head as well. It is for sure quieter than the RS1 which IMO was decently quiet to begin with. Hell, I can hear my PS3 now and never could hear it before with the rs1.

I never noticed my RS1 lens shaking with deep bass and haven't yet on the RS2 as well.

I will say that the more I have been using this pj the more impressed I am and the greater the upgrade from the RS1 I think it is. The added depth, detail and richness is just fantastic.

IMO anyone who has said that this is a minor upgrade (and I hope I didn't come off like that from my initial comments) before is crazy. I can only guess they were viewing it in one of the lower gamma settings because with a 2.5 gamma the diff is quite visible.

If anyone is looking into getting an rs1 then then should pony up the extra cash and buy an RS2. It's easily worth the extra money. I watched face/off hd dvd Saturday night and (aside from the DNR fest to cause the waxy looking faces) the depth of the image was sooooo nice. Checked out a bit of Transformers HD DVD today and again, such added depth and a richness to it. I also checked out some madden 08 on the xbox360 and the difference is night and day. Again, richness and much added depth.

I'm in the process of finalizing the upgrade and will hopefully get my hands on the RS2 soon. I was skimming through the HD100 review in HT magazine and I noticed the comment " quite a bit more expensive and perhaps only marginally better than it's predecessor". Then again, they also published a CR of 12790:1 for it. From what I remember, they also called the VW60 a minimal improvement to the VW50 when it was reviewed.

I'm in the process of finalizing the upgrade and will hopefully get my hands on the RS2 soon. I was skimming through the HD100 review in HT magazine and I noticed the comment " quite a bit more expensive and perhaps only marginally better than it's predecessor". Then again, they also published a CR of 12790:1 for it. From what I remember, they also called the VW60 a minimal improvement to the VW50 when it was reviewed.

Nice.

Yeah I don't know what he was smoking to say that it is perhaps only marginally better although I guess it comes down to how someone defines marginal.

Hmm reading the review he says he used the normal gamma setting...there is an issue right there that would lower the improvement the RS2 offers and I think the on/off figure he got was because his meter couldn't go low enough for the 0 IRE reading.

Greg's review is IMO the best I have seen thus far on the RS2 and hits the nail on the head.

Anyway, here's hoping you get a solid performing RS2 and will see the improvement I have seen.

I am going to try your Gamma setting when I get a chance. It seemed that 2.5 was too extreme, but bumping it on the two extremes sounds like a good idea!

Another funny off topic thing....

So when I saw that rlindo had posted, a chimpanze came to mind. I coudn't figure out why my brain equated rlindo to a primate. I spent a good 15 seconds looking at the letters to try to figure out why that would come to mind. So reading through your post I noticed that your title is Office Monkey. I got a kick out of the fact that my brain was picking up subliminal monkey messages associated with your handle.

That is funny Cameron! After reading your post, I thought that maybe I *too* was thinking of monkeys when I saw his post, but maybe it was your post that did it...

BTW, my RS-2 is ordered and on its way. It will get installed, hopefully, next week. So I guess I am officially an RS-2 owner, and thus feel obliged to post in this thread, even though I don't yet have it in my possession.

Yes, my first projector. I've been dreaming about having a home theater most of my life now...and finally the plans are in motion! We bought this house specifically because it had a great room that could be converted into a home theater.

I wonder if there is a "my first projector tips" thread somewhere in the bowels of AVS Forum? I could use some tips. After months of browsing I've come up with:

1. Don't cycle the power often to preserve lamp life
2. RS2: Use 2.4 or 2.5 Gamma *somehow* to make the picture quality better
3. Use a power conditioner and/or UPS to preserve lamp life
4. Love the projector you get, not the projector you can't afford or didn't buy
5. RS2: Use the scaler in the projector if at all possible, it's probably better than the rinky dink scaler in your source (unless of course your source is the famous Mr. XA2, mine isn't)
6. JUST SAY NO(tm) to getting keystoned
7. Go big with the screen, you can always mask zoom later if you need to...
8. Dark/Matte walls are best
9. Don't wear your silver space suit when you're watching 2001 (or any movie for that matter) no matter how "cool" you think it is. ANSI will make you pay.

Thanks Rick for asking about HDMI cables. What are you folks using to connect your RS2? I am currently trying to decide what are my best options. I have approx. a 40' run from the equipment room to the projector. What would be my best choice, HDMI or component? Chris and Cameron mentioned some brands, any others that don't cost $$$$.
Sounds great Chris. Have you started playing with the high end IRE. No end to the tinkering
Not to belabor the question but....What is the max. vertical shift you folks are getting with the RS2? Anyone out there except Chris who is at the max.?

Thanks Rick for asking about HDMI cables. What are you folks using to connect your RS2? I am currently trying to decide what are my best options. I have approx. a 40' run from the equipment room to the projector. What would be my best choice, HDMI or component? Chris and Cameron mentioned some brands, any others that don't cost $$$$.
Sounds great Chris. Have you started playing with the high end IRE. No end to the tinkering
Not to belabor the question but....What is the max. vertical shift you folks are getting with the RS2? Anyone out there except Chris who is at the max.?

Monoprice is the cheapest out there. I like their shorter cables, but I had a friend that had a problem with a 50' run with their cable. It isn't that you have image degradation, but it seems like you have display syncing issues depending on the source etc.

I thought that Blue Jeans had a really good price for their Series 1 and 2 cables. They offer cheaper import cables too.

For your 40' run, will the cable be in the walls? Can you easily replace the cable if it isn't working for you? If that is the case, I might try one of the cheaper ones. If it isn't I would run a decent cable.

Yes, my first projector. I've been dreaming about having a home theater most of my life now...and finally the plans are in motion! We bought this house specifically because it had a great room that could be converted into a home theater.

I wonder if there is a "my first projector tips" thread somewhere in the bowels of AVS Forum? I could use some tips. After months of browsing I've come up with:

1. Don't cycle the power often to preserve lamp life
2. RS2: Use 2.4 or 2.5 Gamma *somehow* to make the picture quality better
3. Use a power conditioner and/or UPS to preserve lamp life
4. Love the projector you get, not the projector you can't afford or didn't buy
5. RS2: Use the scaler in the projector if at all possible, it's probably better than the rinky dink scaler in your source (unless of course your source is the famous Mr. XA2, mine isn't)
6. JUST SAY NO(tm) to getting keystoned
7. Go big with the screen, you can always mask zoom later if you need to...
8. Dark/Matte walls are best
9. Don't wear your silver space suit when you're watching 2001 (or any movie for that matter) no matter how "cool" you think it is. ANSI will make you pay.

Thanks Rick for asking about HDMI cables. What are you folks using to connect your RS2? I am currently trying to decide what are my best options. I have approx. a 40' run from the equipment room to the projector. What would be my best choice, HDMI or component? Chris and Cameron mentioned some brands, any others that don't cost $$$$.

I'll be running both component and HDMI. I'll still use component for my sat box and upconverting Oppo, which upconverts over component. Remember, you have to have HDMI for anything 1080p. As of now, anyway. Between Blue Jeans cables and Mono Price cables, I don't think you can go wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DBI

Have you started playing with the high end IRE. No end to the tinkering
Not to belabor the question but....What is the max. vertical shift you folks are getting with the RS2? Anyone out there except Chris who is at the max.?

I haven't played with the high end yet, but I will be soon. I got my replacement AA switcher yesterday so I need to get that in first and then start calibrating again.

Doug, what are your numbers going to be with height to top of screen and to pj lens? I know you said 16 to 19 ft back, correct?

I had conduit placed from the ceiling of the equipment room to the approx. location of the projector when the house was built. The projector end in somewhere behind ceiling sheet rock so I know its going to get ugly. Very hard to reach from atic. I sussept a 34'-36' run. I would rather be a little long to move equipment around etc. Thanks Cameron.

Chris, I measured it out on the floor plan last night(in Seattle). Now that the screen wall is up and the screen is protruding approx. 6" from its wall, it looks like my throw will be between 16'-16.5'. Forgot that I would need both cables, dumb.

Chris, I measured it out on the floor plan last night(in Seattle). Now that the screen wall is up and the screen is protruding approx. 6" from its wall, it looks like my throw will be between 16'-16.5'. Forgot that I would need both cables, dumb.

Well, you may not even need the component, depending on how you do your switching and what your sources are, etc.

So how high will the pj be inre to the top of screen? Do you know yet?

I had conduit placed from the ceiling of the equipment room to the approx. location of the projector when the house was built. The projector end in somewhere behind ceiling sheet rock so I know its going to get ugly.

You should be able to slam a fishtape thru from the equipment area and hear where the other end of the conduit is, right?

I read a good article in CEPro last night about HDMI cables. The author wasn't so much slamming companies that tout these 'high end', expensive, super shielded, gold plated blah blah cables as he was making a point that when it comes right down it it, a simple Cat5e or Cat6 cable with HDMI ends in runs under 50 ft would do the job just as well as the higher end stuff. I tend to agree.

Rob, with those settings have you checked black and white levels with a test disc yet? Just curious.

Chris

Rob is hitting it just about perfect. I have checked 4 RS-2s to date for calibrations and most are just about right with Brightness at +2. Contrast is up for interpretation though. -9 to -10 is about where you quit clipping any Red, Green or Blue and even lower than that to completely eliminate any banding. Having said that I prefer mine around -4. At that setting you are only clipping Red a bit and still have relatively minimal banding. Kris Deering and I went over this on a unit a good bit.

I was hoping as high as possible and still stay within the vertical limits. I was taking to some retired Boeing structural engineers, one who specialized in harmonics, about the lens vibration problem that some are seeing at very low hz. They had some interesting ideas. Have you been able to isolate the vibration to the projector or the mounting system?

I am the Progressive Labs software with their new analyzer. I do set brightness the old fashioned way though. I use the color bar pattern with the pluge in the lower right hand corner from HD-DVE. This gives you a 50IRE level. You will have to get near the screen to see the BTB bars disappear. I usually do not use a full black screen to set brightness. Thats just the way I do it and I have always been pleased. Some on here may disagree but I know of other well respected videophile members that do it this way also.

Have you been able to isolate the vibration to the projector or the mounting system?

Well, my G11 didn't shake so I'd have to say it's the lens.

An important note. This is something I had never seen before until I went looking for it. When I thru out those 25 and 30hz tones on a text screen, I could clearly see it. Then, during a movie with bass that low, I could see it because I was looking for it. FWIW.